Weddell Sea: Why SA scientists are off to Earth’s “coldest and harshest waters”

Bring an extra pair of socks, please.

Next summer, a handful of South Africa’s most accomplished scientists will be heading on a voyage of discovery to find out more about the Weddell Sea.

It’s billed as one of the most inhospitable places on the planet. Little is actually known about the waters, as explorers have tended to steer clear of the region. It seems like they’ve had many good reasons to keep a wide berth.

Where is the Weddell Sea?

Located between the east and west territories of Antarctica, the sea sits between almost 2,000km of land. The area is famous for being home to the Weddell Seals, and sightings of killer whales and penguins have been reported there.

(wikimedia commons)

Thomas R. Henry once said the Weddell Sea was the most treacherous and dismal region on earth in his book The White Continent. Yet that hasn’t been enough to deter our brave researchers from signing up to the opportunity of a lifetime.

Ocean researchers from the University of Cape Town (UCT), Nelson Mandela University (NMU) and the South African Environmental Observation Network (SAEON) will join an international team of scientists from institutions around the world.

What are they looking for?

We’ve already had confirmation what the team will be up to when they leave for Antarctica in 2019:

Survey the underside of the Larsen C Ice Shelf

Document the rich and little-studied marine life of the western Weddell Sea ecosystem

Locate the wreck of Sir Ernest Shackleton’s ship Endurance, which was trapped and crushed by the ice and sunk there in 1915.

Why the Weddell Sea?

Professor Julian Dowdeswell is the Director of the Scott Polar Research Institute at the University of Cambridge in the UK. He explained why the team needed to go to these uncharted waters:

“Ice shelves surrounding the Weddell Sea are important because they affect the mass-balance and stability of the Antarctic Ice Sheet, as well as ocean-current circulation.

“If ice shelves thin, break up to produce icebergs and retreat as the atmosphere and ocean waters warm, then ice flow from the interior accelerates and more mass is lost, contributing to the global sea-level rise.”

The organisers are keen for this project to leave a lasting legacy. They want it to inspire a younger generation of scientists and help world leaders better understand climate change and the mechanisms needed to fight against it.

It doesn’t take a scientist to figure out that our representatives will need to wrap up warm for this one. We’re wishing them every success.